Adopting Take
by bluemchen6
Summary: A follow up to "Between Friends". How Hayato and Ryu meet Takeda.


**DISCLAIMER:** Sadly I don't own anything.

**Adopting Take**

Takeda Keita so was nervous that he actually trembled in anticipation.

He whished his mother had had time to bring him to school, at least on his very first day. But she had been assigned to the night shift at her factory and had been still at work when his aunt had picked him up from home. She passed his school on her way to work and his mother had arranged it that she dropped him off in front of the school gate.

Keita looked up the huge grey stone-walls with the iron gate and swallowed uncomfortably. Somehow he didn't feel that Nenriki elementary school was welcoming him.

While he was still trying to work up his courage, a brisk lady in a costume strode past him, holding the hand of a little girl. Keita decided to follow her. She seemed to know were to go.

This way, he actually managed to find the secretary who checked the new pupils' names against her list of the assigned classes and then gave the corresponding directions to the newcomers.

She looked at Keita with suspicion as he gave his name with a slight stutter, but didn't comment on the fact that he was alone. Curtly she told him the way to his class, 1d, and then turned to the business man and his well-groomed offspring who were waiting in line behind him.

Hesitantly Keita took the route the secretary had described to him, dodging happily chatting mothers, rushing career-parents and some older students on his way. He found the classroom easily enough, though the level of noise that could be heard even trough the closed door, was rather daunting.

Keita wiped his damp hands on his uniform jacket in an attempt to straighten it and took a few deep, calming breaths before he found enough courage to enter the room.

The first thing he noticed was a pale boy in the very back of the classroom who sat motionless at his desk and stared murderously at Keita.

Keita shuddered and looked hastily away. It wouldn't do to provoke one of his classmates, who obviously had some issues, by imprudently holding eye-contact.

Keita's gaze skittered nervously over the room full of chatting, laughing and posing boys and girls, when he noticed a familiar face.

Keita relaxed a fraction and smiled at Asami who had been with him in kindergarten and who now waved him over. Relived that he knew at least one of his new classmates, Keita walked over to Asami and picked the desk in front of him, which hadn't been claimed yet.

Keita was happy to listen to Asami going on and on about his summer holidays as he observed his classmates from the safety of his seat. There were a few rowdy boys and he noticed a girl nicking some sweets from her neighbour, but, at least for the moment, all of them were busy and excited with the novelty of school.

Keita's nerves were also somewhat eased when he noticed that the silent boy in the back seemed to glare at every newcomer without fail in the same sinister fashion. If the boy really was trouble, at least he didn't discriminate.

The bell rang, announcing the beginning of 1d's very first lesson.

Keita pushed his chair straight, while around him the last stragglers were looking for free seats and settled down.

Suddenly the classroom door was thrown open forcefully and banged against the wall. All eyes snapped up and towards the door in anticipation.

In strolled a handsome boy with longish, lightened hair and an only half-buttoned uniform jacket.

The boy looked around searchingly and suddenly broke into a smile that lightened the whole room.

With confident strides the boy walked to the back of the classroom and Keita, who had turned around like everyone else to follow the boy's progress, noticed with shock that the corners of the mouth of the boy with the murder-glare twitched upwards in response to the mysterious newcomer.

The handsome boy stopped in front of the desk next to the boy with the murder-glare and addressed the brawny boy who had claimed it: "I'm sitting here."

"Huh?" the other boy blinked at the newcomer in confusion.

"You're sitting at my desk." The boy repeated and as the other did not react immediately he drew himself up, glared and put it a bit more plainly: "Are you stupid? Get your ass up and out of my chair."

'_Uh-oh. Not a good idea.'_ Keita thought. Everyone in the classroom held their breath in anticipation for the other's reaction.

At long last the brawny boy, who was quite a bit taller and heavier than his challenger rose slowly, clearly trying to look threatening, but the handsome boy was obviously not impressed. He just waved his hand dismissively in front of the larger boy's face: "Shoo!"

The other blinked again, puzzled. Then, not knowing what to put forth against that much arrogant self-confidence, he picked up his bag and shuffled away to another free desk, defeated.

Admiring whispers sprang up between the pupils as the handsome boy flopped down happily into the newly vacant seat and cheerily addressed the boy with the murder-glare: "Ne Ryu-chan! How was your summer?"

"Fine." Was the curt answer and after a short pause: "Yours?"

"Oh it was great!!! I had so much fun!

My family went to visit my Gramps in Okaya and Gramps and Papa were fighting all the time. Taku always started to cry and then Mama had to tell them off and send them outside, where they promptly started arguing again accusing each other of starting the fight and making Taku cry.

Mama tried to explain to Taku that Papa and Gramps don't hate each other. She said that that just is the way of man. Because they don't know how to express their feelings properly they fight and when they're done, they simply pat each others shoulders and drink sake together.

I don't think Taku understood that yet, but I had the best time ever! I learned a lot of new words from Gramps and Papa and sometimes they even let me have a bit of sake with them!"

The handsome boy didn't seem to realize that the whole class was curiously listening in on his report, which was now interrupted by the arrival of their homeroom teacher.

Only reluctantly the pupils turned their attention to the women, who introduced herself as Yokohiro Kazimo, 24, single and started to read the class register out loud checking attendance.

Keita tried to remember as many names as he could, as all around the room hands shot up in the air and pupils called "Here" when their name was called.

The boy with the murder-glare, which had entirely disappeared since the spectacular arrival of the handsome boy, was called Odagiri Ryu.

When the teacher had finished, she closed the class-register and looked straight at the boy sitting next to Odagiri. All students turned around as well as to not miss a thing.

"And who might you be?" the teacher asked mildly.

The handsome boy raised his chin in defiance and said clearly: "Yabuki Hayato."

The teacher smiled kindly as she answered: "Well, Yabuki-kun. You are not on my list. I fear that you have accidently ended up in the wrong classroom."

Odagiri shot a quick, alarmed glance at his friend, but was visibly reassured by Yabuki's confident bearing as he shook his head and insisted: "No, I'm in the right class."

"But you're not listed in the class register." The teacher tried to argue. "One of my colleagues is going to miss you."

"No." Yabuki said calmly. "I already told him that I won't come into his class. I promised Ryu, that we would be together in school and I won't have it any other way."

Again the pupils started to exchange impressed whispers with each other.

The teacher opened her mouth, probably to explain to Yabuki that it was not that easy and that rules were rules, when a knock at the door interrupted her. A little man with a bald head peeked in.

"Kyoto." The teacher greeted respectfully by bowing her head.

The man impatiently waved the greeting away as he scanned the classroom. As he spotted Yabuki his face did a weird twist, that was probably supposed to be a smile, but looked more like a pained grimace. He said: "Yokohiro-sensei, I see you already met your additional pupil."

"Huh?"

While the little, bald man explained to their teacher that Yabuki Hayato would indeed be attending her class and sorted out the formalities, Odagiri leaned towards his friend, ignoring his eagerly eavesdropping classmates: "You were assigned to another class? How on earth did you convince them to let you change classes?"

Yabuki grinned smugly: "I have my ways."

Odagiri stared wordlessly at him and Yabuki took it as a request to elaborate.

"I told you, Papa and Gramps have taught me a lot of new words during the summer. I just used a few of their expressions when I told my stupid teacher that I didn't want to be in his class and suddenly he was very happy to help me swap classes.

At first the principle refused to let me, but Mama explained the situation to him and with the teachers support he finally agreed to have me reassigned."

Odagiri shook his head, but couldn't entirely suppress a smile as he told his friend: "You're something else."

And Yabuki answered with a bright grin: "I know."

Asima prod his pencil into Keita's back to get his attention and hissed in an audible whisper: "They're sooo cool!"

Keita nodded in agreement, but had no time to answer back as their teacher and the Kyoto had finished their business and Yokohiro-sensei now called her students to attention.

^___^

As Keita waited at the school gate for his mother to pick him up, side by side with an incessantly chatting Asima, he wondered about Yabuki and his kind.

Why was it that some people just had to appear and were instantly popular, while others were inevitably picked out to be bullied without any kind of provocation on their side?

Unfortunately life had already taught Keita painfully that he belonged to the later group, though he still did not understand what made the difference.

He sighed and adjusted the weight of his book-bag on his shoulder and admonished himself for his dark thoughts. Today had not been half bad.

None of the adults had been particularly nasty or snide about his stutter, with Asima he had someone in his class with whom he could associate and Yabuki Hayato had demanded the full attention of all his peers, so that none of them had been interested in picking on a mousy boy.

Most of the other children had been already picked up, when Keita's mother finally arrived.

Her dress was a bit blotchy and her hair had escaped her ponytail and hung wildly around her face. Keita smiled happily and ran towards her.

She caught him in a hug and kissed the top of his head: "Sorry honey, I'm a bit late. It took a bit longer to clean at Ms. Shinsho's as I had expected.

"T-that's ok." Keita said "I d-didn't have to wait t-too long."

His mother fondly ruffled his hair and then took his small hand into hers. As they walked home through the streets Keita told her all about his first day at school, whose climax had naturally been the spectacular arrival of Yabuki Hayato in 1d.

^___^

The first few days at Nenriki passed exceptionally well for Keita. He didn't make any friends, besides Asima, but he managed to keep a low profile and not draw any attention; which was definitely made easier as everyone seemed to be preoccupied in courting Yabuki and Odagiri.

But of course it was too good to be true; during the second week at school misfortune struck, though it was not Keita who was immediately affected. It was Asima who was singled out.

Keita couldn't say what exactly had triggered the outburst of Fukuda, the boy who had been so rudely displaced by Yabuki on their first day of school. Not that people like Fukuda needed a reason to bully weaker people.

Keita and Asima, as always prattling on about something or other, had entered the classroom at exactly the same time as Fukuda did. As three boys, however thin, were still one too many to walk through a door at the same time Asima had lightly bumped into Fukuda who instantly retaliated by shoving him violently against a wall.

From this time on Asima had become the favourite target of Fukuda and his gang. They teased, they jostled, they insulted, they threatened and took Asima's lunch money.

Keita always ducked his head and remained silent when Fukuda and his gang came for Asima. He felt very bad about that, but what could a weedy guy like him do against three larger boys?

The only thing Keita could do was not to laugh and ridicule along with the rest of their classmates when Fukuda came for Asima and to stay around to pick up the pieces when the other boys had enough.

Asima took it bad.

He was not used to be on the receiving end of being bullied. Up till now he had always just watched from the sideline as others were harassed and he could not understand why no one was helping him out.

Keita did his best to be a good friend for Asima, trying to console him after one of Fukuda's games and if he couldn't do much, at least he could always lend an open ear.

Then, one day at lunch, Keita broke his golden rule of _never-draw-attention_.

In the morning Fukuda and his gang had already pulled away Asima's chair, when he had sat down and had taken the money his mother had given him for the school cafeteria.

Now, Keita and Asima were sitting somewhat offsite in the school-canteen and Keita shared the lunchbox his mother had prepared for him with his friend.

Asima was uncharacteristically silent and withdrawn; the constant harassing was clearly wearing him down.

Keita was very worried and discouraged for his friend. It was just not like Asima to be so dejected and he desperately wanted to make it better.

Half away through Keita's lunch box Asima stood up, not paying attention to their surroundings to refill his glass at the water dispenser and promptly ran head-first into Fukuda.

Fukuda of course was not pleased. He clutched Asima at the arms and shook him violently, screaming insults into his face and then shoved him forcefully against one of the tables.

The table corner hit Asima's side painfully and the boy crumbled to the floor with a chocked sound.

Fukuda's friends were jeering and the other pupils were watching the going-ons interestedly. Egged on by the other students Fukuda sneered down at Asima and prepared to land a good kick at the boy on the floor.

Before Keita knew what he was doing he shoved Fukuda from the side and called loudly: "Stop it!!!"

As Fukuda had been standing only on one leg at the time, he actually lost his balance and stumbled forward.

Dead silence descended over the usually noisy lunchroom.

Keita swallowed dryly as everyone in the room stared at him, Fukuda blinking perplex, not quite understanding what just happened.

Behind him he could hear Asima dragging himself upright once more, but Keita couldn't take his eyes from Fukuda and witness horrified how bewilderment slowly made way to understanding on the boy's flat face.

"YOU!!!!" he roared and readied himself to spring at Keita, who ducked his head in anticipation of the impact.

But for now Keita was saved by their teacher Yokohiro who entered the lunchroom, animatedly chatting with a fellow female teacher, to keep lunch-duty.

Maybe a bit melodramatic, but Keita thought very effectively, Fukuda drew his fingers over his own neck glaring meaningfully at Keita, before he turned his back on him and went back to his own table, while the other pupils picked up their conversations were they had left off.

Keita gulped. This was bad.

From the corner of his eye he could see Yabuki and Odagiri staring at him and then Odagiri said something to Yabuki, who nodded still looking straight at Keita.

Keita forced himself to ignore all the other children and turned around to Asima, who was sitting on a bench holding his side. Asima stared at Keita with wide eyes, but when Keita smiled hesitantly at him his eyes dropped and he looked away.

This day, after classes, Fukuda and his cronies waited for Keita at the school gates.

Asima cowered and slipped silently from his side as the bullies closed in on Keita.

For a moment Keita managed to catch Asima's eye through the bodies that surrounded him, before Asima turned around and walked away.

^___^

Keita slumped, trying to make himself as small and unobtrusive as possible, when he walked into 1d's classroom the next day.

He ached all over from the treatment he had received yesterday and his face was actually coloured by an ugly bruise. His mother had cried when she had seen it and Keita had felt even worse then he already had after the pounding he got from the bullies.

He walked, nearly pressed against the wall, to his desk: "G-good morning, Asima." He said quietly to the boy who was already there.

Asima turned away.

For a second Keita just stood there, caught of guard by the unexpected reaction, before he remembered that he didn't want to draw attention and slid silently into his seat.

He could feel the eyes of his peers in his back and drew up his shoulders protectively when a quick glance proofed that Odagiri's murder-stare was aimed in his direction.

When Fukuda and his friends arrived, a minute before the bell, he rapped his knuckles on Keita's head as he passed him by.

In the breaks between the lessons Keita tried to approach Asima, but the boy avoided him and as the lunch our arrived Asima passed by Keita in the canteen and sat down with some other pupils from their class. And when one of Fukuda's friends pushed Keita's lunch box onto the floor, spilling his meal and Asima still did not react, he gave up.

In truth he couldn't even be cross with Asima. Asima had had to suffer a lot from Fukuda and his gang and from previous experiences Keita knew how wretched it was to be bullied. How could he begrudge Asima seizing the possibility to deter the bullies' attention, when that was exactly what Keita had tried for the past weeks?

Keita noticed Odagiri and his murder-glare again fixed on him from across the room and closed his eyes, feeling desperate and helpless.

^___^

Three very long, miserable days followed.

Besides being now the favourite target of Fukuda and his gang and the source of ridicule from his peers, Keita was also lonely.

He hadn't made any friends, before he had become the favourite past-time amusement for the classroom bullies, content to have Asima to talk to. And now no one wanted to associate with him, afraid that that would get them on the bad side of Fukuda.

Worst of all was that his mother now cried every evening, when she treated the bruises on his body with ointment.

She had complained at school about the pupils that bullied her son, but she knew as well as Keita, that that would not change anything about the situation. Teachers couldn't be everywhere at once.

Keita tried to hide the bruises from her, but that had made her cry even more, because she felt that Keita didn't trust her which again made Keita feel mean and even more miserable.

His father just shook his head over his mother's tears and told Keita to: "Grow a back-bone and fight back."

Keita felt a shadow looming over his desk and bit his lip.

"Hey, Sissy!!!" Fukuda growled and rattled Keita's desk.

Keita kept his eyes fixed on the tabletop, feeling Fukuda's friends closing in around him.

"I'm talking to you, stupid!"

Keita ignored them as good as possible. Regardless of how he reacted, it wouldn't change Fukuda's objective anyway.

"Didn't that tramp that calls herself your mother teach you to look at people, when they talk to you?" Fukuda jeered.

At the insult against his mother Keita did look up, trying not to cower as he glared at the bigger boy: "Leave m-my mother a-alone."

Fukuda, his gang and some of the other pupils laughed about his futile defiance and his stutter. The others just looked on in silence.

Odagiri with his murder-glare leaned over to say something to Yabuki, who nodded grimly.

Keita tried desperately not to break into tears as he let his eyes drop back down, hoping that Yokohiro would come soon.

Fukuda reached for Keita's book bag and opened it to look for his lunch box, joking with his friends and jostling Keita deliberately, when a loud bang called everyone to attention.

Across the room Yabuki had kicked his chair against the wall and was now stalking over to where Keita and Fukuda were; a silent but murderously glaring Odagiri in his wake.

"That's enough." Yabuki said matter-of-factly.

"Huh?" Fukuda said bewildered.

Yabuki shook his head regretfully: "You really are stupid. Why do I have to tell you everything twice? I said it's enough." The first part was said with a mocking friendliness, but the tone of Yabuki's voice had turned steely at the end, backed up and emphasized by the sinister glare from Odagiri.

Keita followed the scene with disbelieve.

Fukuda floundered, clearly thrown by being opposed by the two most popular pupils in 1d.

"What ... what are you talking about?"

Yabuki and Odagiri exchanged a glance and then Yabuki took the word again: "If you don't want a problem with us, you better keep your hands to yourself in the future. I don't like the way you're treating weaker classmates."

"And you better make sure, that you're cronies do that to. Or else ..." Odagiri's few words and the unspoken threat were made all the more ominous by the fact that he usually didn't talk at all.

Tough taller and superior in number, Fukuda raised his hands in a disarming fashion and retreated to lick his wounds.

"T-thanks." Keita managed.

Odagiri's eyes softened and Yabuki smiled brightly: "No problem, ... ehm? What's your name again?"

"T-T-Take-eda."

Yabuki grinned and made the victory sign: "No problem, Take!"

^___^

'_.'_

Keita could still not believe that Yabuki and Odagiri had stood up for him.

Bend over to make himself as small as possible, as had become his habit, he followed the two boys and their gaggle of admirers to the canteen, marvelling about his fortune.

Fukuda threw poisonous glares in his direction, but didn't dare to approach Keita with the other two boys around.

It seemed all that Keita had to do to avoid Fukuda in the future was to stay around Yabuki and Odagiri.

Keita sighed discouraged as he sat down on a lone table.

At least for so long as the two guys suffered his presence in their periphery, which probably would not be long.

Keita picked half heartily at his food, slumped over in dejection.

Suddenly, for the second time of the day, he felt somebody looming over him. Warily he raised his head and looked straight at a not smiling, but an at least not as severe as usually looking, Odagiri.

Yabuki planted himself down on the bench opposite of Keita and asked cheerily, already stuffing his mouth with dumplings: "You don't mind if we sit here, Take. Do you?

Keita managed to shake his head, dumbfounded.

Odagiri carefully placed his tray on the table, before he sat down beside his munching friend.

He looked at Keita and the corners of his thin mouth lifted a fraction: "I'm Ryu and the cookie monster is Hayato. It's nice to meet you."

_~End~_


End file.
